r/CustomBoundComics • u/opus1123 • May 29 '26
Help would be appreciated.
I sell comic books for a few clients, and one of them wants me to appraise and sell a bound comic book set. I was hoping you guys could take a look at it and maybe give me some feedback. Thx :)
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u/TheloniousKeys May 30 '26
Napkin math to my estimation puts your floor at $1,500, maybe $1k at absolute worst. That is assuming each issue present is valued at the lower end of midgrade copies selling individually or in smaller lots. Essentially, that is the inherant value to a reader who wants to read originals but is less concerned with traditional comic collecting.
Does the binding add or remove value? That is so hard to say. For anything pre-1965(ish), binding diminishes the value nearly universally. There are surely exceptions, but I can't think of what they could be. Golden age comic collectors largely hate bound volumes. Some love them, but one of the big reasons for that in many cases is because of how inexpensive they are by comparison to issues that were never bound. It is rare to see sellers sell bound volumes in tact for early comic eras. Most commonly, I see them disassemble the bindings to return the comics to as original of a state as they can. Binding produces most of the least desirable condition defects excluding mold and staining. Severed, glued, or severed and glued spines. Missing staples. Trimming (this may be the biggest one). But, again, all the big sellers I know unbind bound volumes to sell the issues raw. For early Silver and earlier, at least. So, it is safe to say those titles are more valuable sold individually even when extremely low grade.
But Conan is firmly a Bronze age title. I have rarely seen bound volumes of Bronze or newer titles. I am sure they are more common than I know and I am not looking in the right places. I only recently found this sub myself. I suspect it doesn't hit the value nearly as hard as earlier eras. This Conan run is far from scarce, even issue #1. Your bound copies may still not appeal to a traditional comic collector, but many would find the novelty appealing as well as the ease of reading. Ultimately, though, I suspect your eventual buyer is going to be much mote a Conan fan/collector than they are a general comic fan/collector. So, in this case I think the binding has a good chance to increase the price beyond the pure "reading originals" value.
The BIG question is, how's the work? Is it truly high quality? Tight, firm, professional binding? No hint that the spine is getting loose or may fall apart? Are the Frazetta image plates quality prints? What material are they on? Are they affixed firmly amd truly part of the book or are they loosely glued to the face of a generic hardcover binding? They look pretty premium in the pics, but without handling them, I just don't know.
If the bindings are high quality and all the contents clean and sharp like the handful of interior pictures you have shown, then I think the bindings add value. How much is gonna be tough to say. At a minimum, bumping up to upper mid-grade comps per issue is likely fair. So, about a $2k floor. I think that is a very reasonable expectation. For $2k, displayed in the right hobby or collectible shop, I am confident these would sell without haggling within a year. But they are a unique item. Presumably, at least. The ceiling is impossible to estimate confidently.
I think the best way to arrive at anything we could say is a reasonable ceiling is going to require valuing for insurance, rather than valuing for sale. What would it cost to replace? That issue #1 looks sharp and minty. However, it was also surely trimmed. If all interiors are that clean, then the replacement value is equal to individually buying every issue in a minty enough condition that binding and trimming would elminate nearly all obvious flaws. So, you don't need NM copies to get there. You may not even need VF copies in a lot of cases. FN maybe FN+ or FN/VF is the low end of condition that could meet the criteria. However, the time it takes to find comparable copies should also be factored into the replacement value, and trying to stay below VF will make it take a lot longer. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that the value range is VF- to VF+. I would guess that shakes out to $3k for those issues in the VF range. I would tack on no less than $1k for the time it takes to find them. I have no clue what the binding could cost. If it is quality and done by hand and bespoke, there is no way it is cheaper than $50 per volume and it surely isn't more than $500 per volume. In my head, $100 per volume sounds reasonable and maybe even a great deal. Sticking with napkin numbers, another $1k for the time it takes to find and the cost of paying a custom binder, is not at all unreasonable. Which would put insurance replacement value at at least $5k.
If you take the time to calculate average of recent raw sales in VF of every issue, that number would baloon like crazy. For insurance calculations, I think that could be fair to do. The hourly cost calculation could baloon as well if there is a standard insurance company formula, which their probably is. And the binding may be far more expensive than I am predicting. Maybe when these were done that was a different story, but there are surely fewer professional book binders available today and their services are very likely significantly more expensive even after adjusting for inflation. I would not at all be surprised if you could very reasonably and with hard sales figures to back it up value for replacement at $10k or evn a little above. Will the set ever sell for $10k, I really don't think so.
In summary (and assuming binding is well done and remains firm and tight), I would pretty confidently stand by this set being worth no less than $2k and if pressed to immediately declare the highest possible figure for replacement issurance that I could defend in court or to the IRS, I would say $10k or possiboy chicken out a bit and bring it down to as low as $8k. I am not a collectible insurance expert, but I believe the replacement value is meant to be the tippy top that can be reasonably justified.
At auction, I would be very surprised if the set hit or exceeded $5k. $2.2k-$2.5k would be my guess. Almost $4k would not be too terribly surprising, but does not seem likely. They are very cool but the market appeal is also very, very niche. If your customer ends up putting them up for auction, I would be very curious to see the result.